Evidently going to Paris can give you a psychiatric disorder. I guess this condition’s been known about for a couple of years now. Is it just me, or does this seem a little silly? Why stop there? I think I’ve got Buffalo Syndrome–the sinking feeling that you are being cosmically persecuted via sports disasters…

Project Blackbox is Sun Microsystems’ approach to a case mod: they’re putting a whole data center in a standard shipping container. Shipping containers are going to be the lego blocks of the next century.

You can watch the next plague coming your way on a map or satellite at HealthMap, a site that puts disease reports from a variety of sources, quick and questionable and slow and sure, on a world map.

Arden is a MMORPG under development that will be set in Shakespeare’s England. It’s being developed as a game, an educational environment and a research tool.

We’re still a long way off from having ourselves a magical beanstalk to climb off-planet on, but there are plenty of dedicated and innovative people working hard to make the dream a reality. Dr. Brad Edwards has made a report on the space elevator section of the X-Cup games – no winners this year, but some strong contenders and ingenious new ideas on display.